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Former journalist who spent 40 years at daily dies at 79

A journalist who worked for a regional daily for 40 years has died at the age of 79.

Bob Kernohan, left, joined the Hull Daily Mail as its Goole reporter in 1955, covering both news and sport, and remained there until his retirement 40 years later.

He began his career as a junior reporter for the Leeds Graphic, then following National Service worked for a newspaper in Harrogate before he joined the Mail as a district reporter.

Tributes have been paid to him by former colleagues in an obituary by the Mail following his death.

Former Goole Times editor Peter Butler said: “I had known Bob Kernohan for more than 50 years and for all of my journalistic career.

“Bob was unfailingly polite, no matter who he was interviewing, and this approach invariably got him the story he was seeking. He was an old-fashioned but very competent reporter.”

Former Mail colleague Steve Anderson said: “Bob and I covered many big stories together, including the Flixborough disaster in 1974, in which 28 people were killed, and the bitter miners’ and dock labourers’ strikes.

“We were also in at the start of new technology in newspapers, having been given Tandy laptops costing almost £2,000 apiece that functioned for just a couple of hours on a full charge before dying on us.

“They must have weighed more than twice their counterparts today, despite having memories far smaller than a smartphone.

“We had just half-an-hour’s lesson before being expected to use these computers on our own. I can’t remember whether Bob or I filled the swear box first!”

Angus Young, the Mail’s local government reporter, added: “Bob was a true gentleman journalist who worked his patch in Goole with great dedication and flair.

“Like any good district office reporter, he had a bulging contacts book and seemed to know everyone who was anyone in Goole and the surrounding villages.

“He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.”

Bob’s late wife Mavis died in January last year and they had two daughters, Jane, who died in the 1990s, and Lisa.